70 Million EOS Lenses

[Doodah]

Canon is expected to pass the production of 70 million EOS lenses landmark end of October. From http://www.canon.com/news/2011/oct18e.html:

"After reaching the 30-million-unit milestone in 2006, Canon celebrated the production of its 40-millionth lens in April 2008. Owing to the rapid spread of the EOS Digital series of digital SLR cameras, production for Canon's EF lenses then gained momentum to reach the 50-million-unit milestone in 2009, followed by the 60-million mark in January this year. And just nine months later, the EF series is expected to reach the 70-million mark in late October."

Just a quick recap:
Nikon - 30 million in Nov 2001, 40 million in July 2007, 50 million in Sep 2009. 55 million in Sep 2010, 60 million in Apr 2011, 65 million in Oct 2011

Canon - 30 million in Jan 2006, 40 million in Apr 2008, 50 million in Jan 2010, 60 million in Feb 2011, 70 million in Oct 2011

 

[Edwin Herdman]

Wow. Doesn't look so good for Nikon, but their own lens production rate is also phenomenal - it just pales in comparison. I would be worried if I was working for Nikon or held their stock, though - this might represent a percentage decline in the market, or missed opportunities for expanding that reach.

 

[AaronCR]

50 million cameras, 70 million lenses.
So most people buy a Rebel & stick with the kit lens...

 

[dr croubie]

50 million cameras, 70 million lenses.
So most people buy a Rebel & stick with the kit lens...

I've got one 7D and 3 lenses, my sister's got one 550D and 2 lenses (and an EOS-5 but a tamron kit-lens). Looks like we're bother upping the average here...

 

[J. McCabe]

50 million cameras, 70 million lenses.
So most people buy a Rebel & stick with the kit lens...

Probably, but I think it isn't that simple as 3rd party lenses are not counted, and lenses have longer life than bodies.

 

[unfocused]

I was also struck by the numbers. Presuming that those 50 million cameras have at least one lens, that only leaves 20 million spread out over all users. Granted that's an oversimplification and doesn't factor in third-party lenses, but when you start to drill down a little, it does get interesting.

I wonder what the numbers would look like once you took out the "nifty-fifty" 50mm f1.8 and 55-250mm efs zoom. Those two lenses along have got to account for a huge percentage of the 20 million, especially since the 55-250 mm is often sold as part of a bundle.

Bottom line for me is the realization of how few people actually own more than one or two lenses. Start dividing that universe by the number of lenses available and it creates a real reality check about the popularity (or rather, lack of popularity) of lenses.

If new lenses and lens updates seem to come at a painfully slow pace, this helps explain why. Only a small fraction of EOS owners actually buy lenses.

 

[dr croubie]

I wonder what the numbers would look like once you took out the "nifty-fifty" 50mm f1.8 and 55-250mm efs zoom. Those two lenses along have got to account for a huge percentage of the 20 million, especially since the 55-250 mm is often sold as part of a bundle.

And the numerous flavours of 18-55? Can you even buy an xxxD body without getting one thrown in anyway?
and 3rd-party kit bundles are not sanctioned by canon, of course, but how many bodies can you get these days with a sigma/tamron 18-200 or whatever? It depends on the shop, but I just haven't seen many shops doing it, those deals seem to be not as common now as when my sister got her eos-5 with tamron 27-200 or whatever it was.

 

[J. McCabe]

I wonder what the numbers would look like once you took out the "nifty-fifty" 50mm f1.8 and 55-250mm efs zoom. Those two lenses along have got to account for a huge percentage of the 20 million, especially since the 55-250 mm is often sold as part of a bundle.

And the numerous flavours of 18-55? Can you even buy an xxxD body without getting one thrown in anyway?

Just checked a local price comparison site fo a 600D, and it is sold as body only, with 18-55 IS, and with 18-135 IS.

There's a store offering a 60D with a Tamron 17-50, and 60D with EF-S 18-200. The later combination is popular enough since the days of the 40D for me to see several people photographing on the street with an xxD & EF-S 18-200.

 

[Edwin Herdman]

And the numerous flavours of 18-55? Can you even buy an xxxD body without getting one thrown in anyway?

Yup - when I got my T1i I got the with-lens kit only because I didn't want to wait for the body only SKU. All the cameras released since also come in body-only flavors.

 

[kubelik]

I think J. McCabe points out a critical thing though: most people are also buying multiple bodies in this time span.

tell me: how many of you are still shooting with the same camera you bought in 2001? between my wife and I, we own 11 Canon lenses ... probably above the norm. however, in the period being covered by these numbers ... we've also owned 5 different Canon bodies. still a little higher than what the average suggests, but I intend to keep using the lenses we have through our next cycle of body purchases, at which point the ratio will look more like 11 vs 7. not that far above the "average" ratio of 7-to-5.

 

[J. McCabe]

I think J. McCabe points out a critical thing though: most people are also buying multiple bodies in this time span.

tell me: how many of you are still shooting with the same camera you bought in 2001? between my wife and I, we own 11 Canon lenses ... probably above the norm. however, in the period being covered by these numbers ... we've also owned 5 different Canon bodies. still a little higher than what the average suggests, but I intend to keep using the lenses we have through our next cycle of body purchases, at which point the ratio will look more like 11 vs 7. not that far above the "average" ratio of 7-to-5.

My point is how many of those 5 bodies are still used by someone ?

Extrapolating a roughly 1.4 lenses per body assumes bodies and lenses are trashed at a similar rate, which I find hard to believe, especially with the move from film bodies to digital bodies.

I'd bet a film body bought about a decade ago (and even a digital body bought 5 years ago) is more likely to be in the trash than an EF 600mm f/4L IS USM or MP-E65mm f/2.8 Macro bought at the same time. Plenty of primes made 20 years ago are still current, but hardly any cameras that age are.

 

[ianhar]

I think J. McCabe points out a critical thing though: most people are also buying multiple bodies in this time span.

tell me: how many of you are still shooting with the same camera you bought in 2001? between my wife and I, we own 11 Canon lenses ... probably above the norm. however, in the period being covered by these numbers ... we've also owned 5 different Canon bodies. still a little higher than what the average suggests, but I intend to keep using the lenses we have through our next cycle of body purchases, at which point the ratio will look more like 11 vs 7. not that far above the "average" ratio of 7-to-5.

My point is how many of those 5 bodies are still used by someone ?

Extrapolating a roughly 1.4 lenses per body assumes bodies and lenses are trashed at a similar rate, which I find hard to believe, especially with the move from film bodies to digital bodies.

I'd bet a film body bought about a decade ago (and even a digital body bought 5 years ago) is more likely to be in the trash than an EF 600mm f/4L IS USM or MP-E65mm f/2.8 Macro bought at the same time. Plenty of primes made 20 years ago are still current, but hardly any cameras that age are.

But surely it will depends on the body and lenses. If 5 years ago i bought 1ds mk iii and a nifty fifty it will be more likely for the nifty fifty to be in the trash.

I bought a kit lens 1 year ago and it is already in the trash, not the body i still use the body.

 

[Edwin Herdman]

tell me: how many of you are still shooting with the same camera you bought in 2001?

Wrong manufacturer and also not an SLR, but I tried out the old Sony F707 recently...results were better than I had hoped for, too! (Just a year newer than 2001.)

In the time I've had my T1i I've bought four Canon lenses that I use. Two of them were second-hand. Add to that two Sigma zoom lenses (one of which I should sell).

 

[J. McCabe]

I think J. McCabe points out a critical thing though: most people are also buying multiple bodies in this time span.

tell me: how many of you are still shooting with the same camera you bought in 2001? between my wife and I, we own 11 Canon lenses ... probably above the norm. however, in the period being covered by these numbers ... we've also owned 5 different Canon bodies. still a little higher than what the average suggests, but I intend to keep using the lenses we have through our next cycle of body purchases, at which point the ratio will look more like 11 vs 7. not that far above the "average" ratio of 7-to-5.

My point is how many of those 5 bodies are still used by someone ?

Extrapolating a roughly 1.4 lenses per body assumes bodies and lenses are trashed at a similar rate, which I find hard to believe, especially with the move from film bodies to digital bodies.

I'd bet a film body bought about a decade ago (and even a digital body bought 5 years ago) is more likely to be in the trash than an EF 600mm f/4L IS USM or MP-E65mm f/2.8 Macro bought at the same time. Plenty of primes made 20 years ago are still current, but hardly any cameras that age are.

But surely it will depends on the body and lenses. If 5 years ago i bought 1ds mk iii and a nifty fifty it will be more likely for the nifty fifty to be in the trash.

I bought a kit lens 1 year ago and it is already in the trash, not the body i still use the body.

I'm sure it depends on price & quality of both cameras & lenses.